NMCA And NMRA Super Bowl - Worlds Collide

Two worlds collide every year when the NMCA-Edelbrock Drag Racing Series and the Mustang circuit, dubbed the NMRA-Keystone Ford Nationals, invade Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois. The parent company for both racing sanctioning bodies, Pro Media Events, calls it the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing; Nitto Tire is the primary sponsor for the extravaganza. This year marked the fifth run of this shootout as racers and fans from across the USA and Canada packed the famous dragstrip. Several Chevrolet vehicles made quite an impact in the NMCA series, and we were there to capture the action.

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The Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing is a simple concept; both racing series compete separately with all of the heads-up and index categories and runoff eliminations as normal. Once all the class winners are decided, the Pro Media officials then pair up the categories in a prearranged order for the Shootout. Each win earns that particular team a point and the team with the most points wins the collection of Nitto Diamond Tree gold rings, one for each driver on that particular team. In addition to the rings, NMCA/NMRA hands out cash bonuses to the winner of each pairing. The winners in the index and a few of the heads-up pairings receive a $500 bonus while the top-tier heads-up categories take home a $1,000 cash bonus per Shootout victory. This year, Team NMRA took the overall win but it was a hard-fought battle as the NMCA went toe-to-toe with the Mustang ranks. The final tally was seven Shootout wins for the NMRA over the five for the NMCA.

Outside of the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing, the NMCA featured one of the wildest Nostalgia Pro Street (NPS) fields we’ve ever seen. The NPS category is reserved for heavyweight cars that feature back-halved and full tube-style chassis construction with big tires in the back. Underhoods reside engine combos up to 640 ci with various restrictions to prevent Pro Modstyle engines in the category. The entries are either nitrous oxide assisted or naturally aspirated. Those who choose to run nitrous are restricted to a single stage and a specific nitrous jet limit, as determined by the NMCA tech staff. We watched 20 entries slug it out in the mid 7-second range at 190 mph; nearly every run featured tight side-by-side action.

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Dave Beeson continued to have a leg up on the competition by taking the top qualifier spot with a 7.24 at 197-mph pass in his ’79 Camaro. It’s equipped with a 640ci Chevy engine with a controversial, but legal, nitrous system custom-built by Kenny Lafferty. Unfortunately, engine troubles prevented the team from advancing past round one. That opened the door for points leader, Kevin Parent and his ’69 Nova to take his second straight win. Parent worked his way through the field and met Jim Jarrett and his ’69 Camaro Z/28 in the finals. Parent was packing a Dart-built 528ci with a single NOS fogger nitrous system. Jarrett relies on 639 ci from B.E.S Race Engines and an Induction Solutions single-stage nitrous system. Both cars are capable of running in the 7.30s; Parent took the class victory with a 7.41 at 186 mph over Jarrett’s 7.56 at 184 mph.

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Other Chevy vehicles to make it to the winner’s circle were Joe Dunne in Pro Street, Skip Baskin in Pro Stock, Don Baskin in Mean Street, Andy Warren in Nostalgia Muscle Car, and Dave Hounsell in Late-Model EFI.

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NMCA And NMRA Super Bowl - Worlds Collide

Joe Dunne lit up the Pro Street crowd with his ’68 Camaro that was built by Jerry Bickel Race Cars. He turned to legendary Pro Street racer Pat Musi to supply the horsepower. Powering the Camaro is an 864ci engine with Sonny’s Automotive heads, custom Edelbrock nitrous system with four stages, and Edelbrock XT-R EFI system. It added up to 6.20 performances at over 225 mph and the class victory. This was Dunne’s second straight NMCA victory.

Joe Dunne lit up the Pro Street crowd with his ’68 Camaro that was built by Jerry Bickel Race Cars. He turned to legendary Pro Street racer Pat Musi to supply the horsepower. Powering the Camaro is an 864ci engine with Sonny’s Automotive heads, custom Edelbrock nitrous system with four stages, and Edelbrock XT-R EFI system. It added up to 6.20 performances at over 225 mph and the class victory. This was Dunne’s second straight NMCA victory.

The coveted Nitto Tires Diamond Tree rings are awarded to the winning team as Team NMCA battled against Team NMRA in a shootout between the sanctioning bodies.

Andy Warren is deadly in his ’71 Chevy Caprice. He took home the class win in Nostalgia Muscle Car, a unique category reserved for muscle cars and run off predetermined indexes. It’s a foot-brake eliminator, leaving the fancy bracket racing aids to other categories.

NMCA Maple Grove Super Street 10.5 winner, Bill Lutz, qualified Third with a strong 6.81 at 215 mph with his ’67 Camaro RS/SS. It has 557 ci with two Precision 88mm turbochargers. Lutz went down to Mike Rees in the Metz Performance Camaro in round two. Lutz does hold the points lead as he hunts for his first NMCA title.

Defending Pro Street category champion, Joe Dunne, lined up against NMRA racer Mike Murillo and his SCT-sponsored Mustang. Dunne shook the tires; handing the win to Murillo. In this scenario, race officials took each competitor’s best e.t. from the weekend and used that as the dial-in. The cars left on a staggered start but didn’t have to worry about breaking out on the other side.

There are plenty of racing options for late-model cars and NMCA offers the Late-Model EFI class, which is similar to the Nostalgia Muscle Car category where entrants select an index for the weekend. Dave Hounsell took his LS1-powered ’98 Camaro to victory over Edgar Perez, 11.07 on an 11.00 index to Perez’s 10.54 on a 10.50 index.

Kevin Parent wasn’t the quickest Nostalgia Pro Street car of the weekend but he was consistent, a key part in winning any drag race. The Dart-sponsored ’69 Nova features a 528ci engine with a single NOS fogger nitrous system onboard.

Jay Canella piloted one of our favorite cars of the event, a ’62 Nova packing a 360ci engine with a plate nitrous system. He races in Street Radial, where it takes high 8s at 155 mph to compete with the big guns. Unfortunately, Canella lost first round to eventual runner-up Michael Fratena: 9.00 to Fratena’s 8.90. All cars in this class run on BFGoodrich drag radials.

True Street was jammed with lots of Mustangs but one bright spot was Darrin Ambro and his ’80 Malibu. The car was running strictly without juice, despite the SFI 25.5 ’cage and parachute. He had a fresh big-block Chevy engine with Dart heads underhood, and he didn’t want to push things. Still, the car won the 11.00 Index class with a three-run average of 11.10.

Mike Holdridge of The Race Shop brought out his famous twin-turbocharged ’62 Impala. We showed this car off last year when he lit up the Vegas night with huge fireballs coming out of the exhaust on the launch during the Street Car Super Nationals. He didn’t have a fireworks show at Joliet but did run 6.65 at 215 mph to qualify Sixth in Pro Street.

This is an example on how tight the racing is in Xtreme Street, a popular class for true 10.5-inch tire racing. The NMCA officials have a great handle on the rules for this category, as 7.90s-8.50s are the norm. Here is a low 8-second slugfest between points leader Jamie Stanton and the feared Bob Kurgan in his ’86 Mustang GT. Stanton won this battle and finished the weekend as the runner-up.

Danny Shemmwell’s ’69 Camaro is the epitome of NMCA racing. It has old-school looks but packs mid 7-second times—we particularly love the attention to detail with the chrome trim around the windows.

Don Baskin loves his NMCA racing and brought three cars to the competition. In addition to his ’10 Camaro in the Pro Stock ranks, Baskin has two Chevy IIs—the red car runs in Pro Stock while the copper-colored one runs in Mean Street. Don handles the driving chores in Mean Street while his son Skip manhandles the red shoebox down the track in Pro Stock.`

Don Baskin loves his NMCA racing and brought three cars to the competition. In addition to his ’10 Camaro in the Pro Stock ranks, Baskin has two Chevy IIs—the red car runs in Pro Stock while the copper-colored one runs in Mean Street. Don handles the driving chores in Mean Street while his son Skip manhandles the red shoebox down the track in Pro Stock.`

Mike Rees slammed the gears of the Liberty five-speed transmission in one of the sickest Super Street 10.5 cars to hit the track. The Metz Performance–built ride relies on a 500ci engine with a high-tech EFI system, three stages of nitrous, and tuning from Bryan Metz—who is crew chief for Troy Coughin’s Pro Street and Pro Modified cars.

On the right is class veteran Steve Cagle, who has been running in NMCA competition since the mid ’90s. Both Novas run extremely low 8s and are a threat to win on any given weekend.

Xtreme Street racers love the Chevy Nova model as is evident by these two fine examples. Above is Dan Kroll who runs stock suspension with 30x10.5 slicks and a 520ci engine on nitrous.

We love ’57 Chevys, even Pro Mod–style ones that were entered in Pro Street. Mario Orsini hauled out his newly twin-turbocharged big-block Chevy and nailed down a career best of 6.88 at 211 mph.

Tony “Sandman” Williams has been racing his ’69 Camaro in Pro Street competition for nearly two decades. The car is an icon in the Street Legal Drag Racing wars and we were more than happy to see him knock off a 6.72 in round two of eliminations. We love that his Pro Street ride is still based on a real ’69 Camaro and isn’t a Pro Stock– or Pro Mod–style car.

Third-gen F-body cars are becoming more popular in drag racing as they are reasonably priced and the suspension systems work well. Mike Fratena runs a unique turbocharged engine in Street Radial as he utilizes a blow-through carburetor induction system. The 76mm Precision turbo is per class rules, and he set the speed record of 160 mph at the Joliet event. He finished runner-up that weekend. CHP

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